Halloween CA
by 4Shame
Summary: Usagi gets her wish of having a California Halloween with Mamoru and her friends. Hopefully, they'll all survive when all is said and done.


It was decided long before Rei had caught wind of it that they'd all meet up with Ami in California for their first coveted taste of the annual tradition called Halloween. Of course in Japan the holiday was starting to thrive as enthusiasts took to the streets in costumes but this was California! The state where the grass was greener, the coast was golden, the sun was always shining and girls were walking around in daisy dukes and bikinis on top so you finally had an excuse to make this your daily outfit! Or so Usagi animatedly claimed. No one actually knew that she had been previously brainwashed by the whimsical music video of an American pop singer whose song had managed to set her on a course to see California for herself at all costs.

After all, any place with pink cotton candy looking clouds and sunshine deserved to be visited! Nevertheless, it was not hard for Usagi to get her friends on board for their October vacation. Makoto had saved up and would entrust the running of her esteemed restaurant to a capable middle-aged apprentice, Minako (who was overseas in England) had approved vacation time from her editor, Mamoru was free to go and had a buddy cover his shifts and Rei…well Rei was another story.

Both Usagi and Makoto had suspected that Rei might not be as enthusiastic as the rest of them about their upcoming trip. California was fine, but being there while "idiots trampled on sacred religious beliefs by participating in a holiday that does nothing but eulogize the darker side of cultural appropriation" was something of a crime to her.

Usagi was slightly dumbfounded at Rei's wording but managed to shake the daze away as she whined. She told Rei that it was only for fun but that response had only made matters worse.

"Not everything has to be so political!" Usagi had claimed as Rei slammed the door to her studio apartment shut.

If she studied the holiday more and cross-referenced it with cultural beliefs and folklore then she'd probably be able to better understand where Rei was coming from. But being as she wasn't big on studying (which was a trait that hadn't magically changed after high school like she had expected it would) she discarded the attempt to be understanding and opted for her prized tactic to cry and whine until she got a yes. It no longer worked on her parents, her mother especially, but it still had some power when it came to Mamoru and the girls.

"Please Rei!" Usagi whined. "It just wouldn't be the same without you! We all hardly get to see each other these days. Won't you at least come just for the fact that we can catch up with everyone?"

She paused for a long time, pressing her ear to the door to see if she got a bite. When she heard nothing, she knew she had to try harder.

"We've already paid for your ticket and everything! All you have to do is come!" Usagi said.

Still, there was no answer.

"If you," she paused, sniveling loudly as she forced tears to start clouding up her eyes. "If you don't go, me and Mako-chan might get lost. Mamoru's a good translator but people in America may not help him. They _would_ help a beautiful woman, though…"

She paused again to see if her attempt at flattery was noticed.

When a ruffling of curtains was the only sound received, she huffed and decided that this was a serious case in which balling and groveling would be the only option.

"REI PLEASE! We DESPERATELY need—"

She stopped when the door swung open.

"Oh geez, Usagi," Rei said as she stood with an unenthused frown and hands on her hips. "If you start with that fake crying I swear I'm gonna unpack my bags."

"Oh," Usagi jumped as she hastily wiped away the impending water works and flashed a bright smile. "You're coming!"

Rei scoffed, upturning her nose in a habit that she'd perfected as a child. "I was always going, dimwit. I'm just not participating in that stupid custom."

Usagi was ready to gripe about that but bit her lip as she hastily decided that she could deal with that _after_ their plane arrived to California.

Usagi excitedly crossed off the days on her calendar until she would finally be airborne to California! Oh she would spend hours jumping up and down with excitement on the evening before their flight and all Mamoru could do was smile at her from the couch. He was excited, sure, but he felt that he needed to balance out the room by being the less energetic counterpart.

Rei's last minute preparations had been much less filled with excitement and more loaded with warnings and precautionary tales.

"Grandpa, I'll be fine," Rei groaned as she tried to convince her elderly grandfather that she had packed all that was necessary. "It's only California."

Her grandfather grunted at that.

"Only California," he muttered indignantly with a frown. "That place is full of thugs, drug addicts, pimps, corrupt police and the like! But not only that, you had to go when the supernatural realm touches ours."

Rei sighed, shaking her head as she watched her grandfather unload numbers of sacred tools so she could take them.

"Not to mention all those evil spirits that hover around there," he griped. "They'll try to possess you the moment you step off that plane! A psychic soul is a delicacy to them."

"I'm twenty-six, grandpa, and I have yet to find an evil spirit that I couldn't handle," she said, placing her hands on his stout shoulders so she could stop him for the moment and look him in the eyes. "I'm telling you I'll be fine."

He stared hard into those amethyst eyes seemingly trying to gauge the strength of her spirit. With a sigh, he looked away and took a moment to think.

"I know you will," he said in a soothing tone.

Rei sighed in relief and took a seat, already thinking that that would be the end of his antics.

"But there's no such thing as being too prepared!" He enthusiastically declared before reconvening his prior activities.

It was clear then that there was no escaping the concerns of a superstitious grandfather.

"Here," he said, surprising Rei with his stealth as he suddenly appeared in front of her. He had a silver chain in hand that held a small charm in the shape of a rectangle at the end.

Rei knew without asking what it was and she bowed her head so that he could reach up to put it on her.

"Don't take it off," she heard him say.

Though she hadn't thought such a powerful protection charm was necessary, she bobbed her head in compliance for her grandfather's sake.

"I won't," she promised as she mindlessly thumbed the small charm.

Despite her display of indifference towards her grandfather's supposed excessive preparations, she was beginning to wonder if perhaps she was a bit too passive about this trip to California. At first it seemed harmless to go for Halloween, but now there was an inkling of doubt poking at her subconscious.

Plus, there was the factual matter that her soul hadn't been the only unique one among her group of friends...

Nevertheless, her evening was spent in the presence of her grandfather who had packed, unpacked, reviewed ancient practices to ward off evil spirits with his granddaughter, repacked and took an inventory before being satisfied. Red-eyed with a slight headache, Rei had been surprised she hadn't exploded in frustration to get the old man to stop. Luckily, her temper had been improving or she had been too tired and secretly touched to react harshly.

By morning she was in a taxi bound for the airport, the idea of a vacation slowly sinking in to replace her fatigue with mild excitement. She tipped the driver at arrival before loading her barrage of luggage onto multiple carts that incurred some assistance. When she finally passed security and reached her terminal, she was relieved to see that she wasn't the only one there.

"Hey Makoto," Rei smiled. "Long time no see."

The brunette looked up, her chalky pail skin visible for the first time since Rei had first spotted the back of her head. She stood up after realizing who had spoken and turned with a feeble smile to greet her friend.

"Hey Rei," she said.

She looked like a ghost in the flesh the way gray bags had settled around her usually grassy green eyes that were darkened to a dim army green. Even her hair had undergone some unearthly transformation from its original thick auburn curls to stringy mud brown.

Rei raised an eyebrow in concern.

"Are you feeling alright?"

Makoto laughed awkwardly, waving her hands frantically as if the gesture was meant to dissuade Rei from thinking that there was a problem despite her less than usual appearance.

"I'm fine," Makoto incessantly repeated. "There's absolutely nothing wrong. I've really never felt better."

Rei huffed, crossing her arms over her chest as she contemplated whether or not she should pursue this further.

"Well, if you say so," Rei said with a sigh. She had been exhausted the night before by her grandfather's ways that she hadn't the energy to engage another stubborn person with inquiries and statements.

She took a seat next to brunette and made a quick glance at her watch before huffing to herself.

"You think she'll make it on time?" she asked with a snide smirk.

For a minute moment Makoto had seemed less shaken as she let out a genuine laugh.

"Let's hope so," she said. "The tickets are nonrefundable. She wouldn't even be able to exchange it for an alternative flight if she did miss this one."

"That explains the price then," Rei replied as she checked her ticket to confirm the scheduled time for takeoff. "She's got half an hour left before our departure."

"I'm sure she'll be here," Makoto reasoned. "After all she isn't alone. Mamoru is punctual, isn't he?"

Rei shrugged, crossing a leg over the other as she sank deeper into her seat.

"I forget," she said with an unexpected yawn. "I haven't really been in a situation where his punctuality had been tested lately."

Makoto nodded. "Me neither."

Her eyes subconsciously strayed from the ticket in her hand to the large window of the terminal. A sleek passenger plane pulled steadily in to dock, the gigantic body and wings looking hauntingly devastating as they shimmered in the sunlight. Makoto's stark white hands tightened into tight fists as her foot started to rapidly tap against the carpeted waiting area. The pupils of her eyes dilated almost to the full length of her retinas and it was then that Rei had suddenly remembered an old factoid about her friend that she had forgotten.

Makoto was terrified of planes.

It wasn't the act of flying. She had done that plenty of times beforehand without the large aircraft to carry her. No, it was a fear far deeper than the idea of being suspended in the air hundreds of feet from the ground with the threat of plummeting to the Earth in a bone-searing crash that was sure to end your life…

On second thought, Rei paused, maybe it wasn't. Regardless, she had known since they were teens in grade school that Makoto had always cowered at the sound of a plane as a result of her parents' devastating crash that had taken both their lives.

Rei placed a consolatory hand on Makoto's, which caused her to flinch. She turned to Rei in absolute fear, an expression that did not cross her features often.

"Everything's going to be fine," Rei assured. "After all, if it isn't, there's about a fifty-fifty chance we'll be reincarnated as ourselves right after the crash."

She laughed sardonically, half scathingly and half in amusement. Their…_unique _capabilities were both a curse and rarely ever a blessing and Rei seemed to find humor in the fact that mortality to them was much different in comparison to the average human.

Makoto scoffed in response. Rei's outlook hadn't completely wiped away her childhood fear, but it had helped.

"You're right," Makoto exhaled. "What's possible death when you've already died before?"

"My thoughts exactly," Rei agreed. She took another glance at her watch and scanned the terminal to see if their blonde friend had arrived yet. The search resulted in an unsurprising revelation that neither Usagi nor Mamoru had gotten there.

_Terminal 3 will now begin the boarding process. Please have your tickets and ID ready before reaching the ticketing agent. All class A tickets please report to the proper loading dock._

Rei laughed.

"Looks like we're in class E," she said. "That gives the Chibas about ten to fifteen minutes before takeoff."

Makoto frowned. "I hope they get here on time," she said as she craned her neck to look over her shoulder.

"Knowing her they'll probably be scrambling all the way through the airport two minutes before the absolute last boarding call," said Rei.

And so it was. Curses were sent flying throughout the airport as a clumsy blonde in plaid pajamas hurriedly pushed past crowds with an apologetic raven-haired man behind her.

Out of breath and panting, Usagi shoved her ticket into the hand of the boarding agent who had been too amused to deny her admittance despite the fact that the door already been closed. Usagi and Mamoru spewed thousands of thanks to her as they entered only to be greeted by more impatient people that grumbled about the delayed takeoff.

Rei could be seen shaking her head in disapproval as Usagi accidentally bumped any unfortunate person that had an aisle seat. Poor Mamoru must've endured so many death threats on behalf of his fiancé because she was completely oblivious of anyone's disdain.

"Hey guys!" she waved towards Makoto and Rei who had shared the same row.

Rei flat out ignored her as Makoto timidly waved back despite the embarrassment she felt when angry glares bore down on her in one succinct swoop.

Luckily, Mamoru had managed to discreetly, and as lovingly as he could, bump her into her seat before she decided to go mingle with her friends and cause more malcontent in their direction.

With a surprised yelp, Usagi plopped onto her seat and looked to Mamoru who pretended nothing had happened and hastily stuffed their carry-on luggage into the overhead compartment.

"Did you push me?" Usagi had whispered somewhat indignantly.

"Push you? When?" Mamoru replied with clueless eyes and a false innocence that had somehow made Usagi forget her question altogether.

Rei rolled her eyes when she heard Usagi's distinct giggles drifting throughout the aircraft and mentally gagged to herself. Sometimes those two were just _too _endearing to each other. In the corner of her eyes she could see a bit of sad jealousy in Makoto's eyes but it was short lived.

At the first shift of the plane, Makoto's color had evaporated to a ghostly white as her hands desperately clung to the arms of her seat. Rei sympathetically sighed, deciding not to try and coax Makoto to relax since she knew it was as hopeless as asking Usagi not to be, well, Usagi.

As the plane rocked, her eyes took to the window and she distractedly watched as the airport and the highways shrunk to a miniature size. A small hum of music captured her ears as a scoff escaped upon recognition of the tune. The passenger seated in front of them had their headphones blaring the old song just loud enough for her to pick up on the melody.

Her grandfather had been a fan of that classic group when he was younger and she couldn't help but smile at the recollection of her aged grandfather dancing around the temple singing as loud as he could into the end of his broomstick.

_I'd be safe and warm_

_If I was in L.A…._

_California Dreaming…_

Somehow the message seemed to transcend all fears, as was evident when Makoto had taken a deep breath and slowly eased up her grip on her chair arms. They both hummed the song to themselves as the flight commenced and their excitement for this much needed vacation was gradually starting to return.

…

Minako had arrived to California three days before the rest of the girls would be there and she wreaked havoc in poor Ami's normally clean apartment.

The newly proclaimed doctor literally followed her blonde friend with a broom and a trash bag, just waiting for her to habitually toss this and that around and even with that much surveillance, Ami's place had still been thrown into a messy sty that she just couldn't understand.

Nevertheless, after the first two nights with Minako as a guest, Ami had completely given up on trying to micromanage her house. After all, there was only one night left before Makoto arrived and she was completely certain that the brunette's habit of cleaning had not left her so there was hope for her home yet!

Luckily, despite the unsettling mess that Minako had managed to leave everywhere she stepped, there were still moments of entertainment that had passed.

Being as it was October, Minako was insistent that they have a marathon of gore, horror, haunting, slasher, and the sort to prepare for Halloween. Ami protested but it was a futile attempt as Minako skimmed the Netflix inventory and pressed play without permission.

With a groan Ami would wander off to the kitchen to make a snack or even sit at the couch with a book next to Minako whose eyes were glued to the television screen. Slowly as time went, Ami's eyes would gradually start to stray from her book to sight the ghastly scenes with screaming characters and she would flinch, alongside Minako, at the violent moments.

More often than naught, however, Ami was heard scoffing indignantly after which she would always flip a page. By day two of their horror movie marathon, Ami had nearly forgotten she was holding a book in front of her as her eyes lingered on the television.

"That is completely improbable," she griped. "A man accelerating at the speed of approximately 4.5 kilometers per hour cannot catch up to a person driving about 96 kilometers per hour unless he was capable of transferring matter from one point to another without traversing the space in between."

"Say what?" Minako groaned as she tried to focus on the movie.

"Teleportation," Ami stated simply.

"Oh," Minako nodded, her hand motionlessly resting in the bowl of popcorn in her lap. "Well Ames, who's to say he's not capable of teleportation. If he is, that just makes this all even scarier."

Ami frowned.

"Horror is frightening when it is realistic," Ami said. "Having an antagonist that can teleport is quite the opposite of realistic. If anything, it makes this whole film laughable. The physics of it all is just preposterous."

Minako scoffed.

"Oh, so that time when you hid behind your book when her friend was being stabbed to death was an attempt to hide your laughter, huh?" She snidely remarked with a smirk.

Ami flushed at being caught and hastily tried to redeem herself.

"That's irrelevant," she said. "I always flinch when people are violently attacked, realistic or not," she said with a huff. "By the way, blood does not spurt out like that unless you splice an artery, which he failed to do."

"Well," Minako started. "Maybe she has arteries in places that normal people don't? How would we know? We haven't physically examined her, have we?"

Ami stared at Minako as if she were disappointed in her logic to which Minako easily shook off. It was a look that all the girls had received at one point or another and they reasoned it couldn't be help being as Ami was notably much more knowledgeable in many subjects than they had ever hoped to be.

"So you're telling me that neither of these characters can be looked at as normal people," she stated. "Then how is this supposed to be frightening?"

"Not everyone watching these movies is a class A genius," Minako grumbled. "Or a doctor."

Ami scoffed and made no response to Minako's statement. She was like a moth to a shining source of light the way her eyes stuck to the television screen without even a blink. The predicted end that she foresaw from the beginning had happened and once again, the antagonist who was thought dead and should have been dead after all of those stabs, shots and hits had somehow been resurrected.

"Unbelievable," Ami said as she shook her head.

Though she couldn't stand the heinous logical errors behind the main characters and the supernatural properties of serial killers later revealed to be human, she just couldn't pry herself away.

"Do you believe in ghosts Ami?" Minako off-handedly asked as she skimmed through titles and summaries to see what would be the most interesting to watch next.

"Absolutely," Ami replied.

Surprised, Minako momentarily stalled her search to look towards the blunette that was seated in her striped blue and white pajama set with her legs folded beneath her and the book she had intended to read now resting in her lap forgotten.

"Really?"

Ami blinked, glancing towards her blonde friend and nodding.

"Of course," she said. "Don't you?"

Minako shrugged, turning back to the television screen and contemplating to herself.

"Not really," she mumbled.

"Is that so?" Ami sounded surprised by her response which made Minako curious. Most serious science majors back in England didn't believe in spirits so she had assumed that Ami too must've felt the same way. "I would've thought you did given our experiences…"

That seemed to spark a light in Minako's mind that she would've otherwise overlooked.

"Ohhh," she said loudly. "That's right!" She laughed. "Sometimes I forget about all those times," she said. "Especially these days."

"I understand what you mean," Ami replied with a smile. Even she sometimes had trouble believing that her younger years were real and not just hallucinated events.

"Well then," Minako said as she scanned movies. "Remembering that changes my perception of these flicks."

"How so?" Ami asked curiously as she too read summaries and titles.

"Well," Minako started. "Most people don't believe that the senshi exist, right?"

"Yes," Ami nodded.

"And there are films made after us like Sailor V's Hero series, Sailor Moon's Warrior series and the Chronicles of the Sailor soldiers…"

"Yes," Ami again nodded. "What of it?"

"Well, though those movies aren't always the most accurate, they do manage to capture some truths in there about us, but lots of people only think of it as science-fiction," Minako rambled.

"Mmhmm," hummed Ami as she was beginning to piece together where Minako was going with all this.

"But we're real, right?"

"The last time I checked, yes," Ami replied.

"Then who's to say these guys aren't real?" Minako said as if struck by a large epiphany.

"Uh, I don't think that's a very sound way of viewing these films," Ami said with a raised brow.

"Sure it is," Minako reasoned without asking for validation otherwise. "I mean, some of these story lines are rigged from folklore and remade with small differences. So who is to say that these serial killers, ghosts, demons and the lot aren't really real?"

"I honestly believe you are looking too deeply into these movies," Ami said. "I doubt they're meant to be taken seriously."

"If they aren't taken seriously," Minako chided. "Then how are people supposed to be scared?" She reasoned. "What if these movies are like warnings of real people that are capable of such monstrosities? What if it wasn't an accident that _we_ of all people have access to these movies? I mean, not many people can do something about all these killers, but we could."

Ami stared blankly at Minako as she went on her rampage of thoughts.

"You're attempt at rationalizing the irrational is mind-boggling," the blue-haired girl stated in disbelief. "Besides that, these are public films. Neither one of them is stamped with a confidential seal nor have we been given some horror movie by some secretive and mysterious man that left it on our doormat. These movies were created and written by people with twisted and bloody imaginations, and nothing more."

"I don't know," Minako said unconvinced as she tapped a finger against her lips. "Those are the same types of things I hear from people when they discuss the senshi so how does it not relate to this?"

By then, Ami had given up on trying to reason with her comrade who was now beginning to wonder which bits and pieces of each film she could record as fact and what was absolute garbage.

"The strange thing is that they only come out on Halloween," Minako murmured to herself, now determined to solve a mystery that Ami had deemed ludicrous.

"Perhaps it has something to do with Hollywood trying to capitalize on Halloween like the candy stores have," Ami grumbled as she shook her head.

She glanced at her watch and sighed.

"I think I'll head off to bed now," she said. "Usagi and the guys are supposed to be landing around 7:30 in the morning," she remarked with a yawn.

"Cool," Minako replied. "I'll see you in the morning!"

Ami nodded, picking herself off the couch and shuffling towards her room. Before she exited the living room she took one last look at her friend who was posted on the couch with so much concentration she might've been fooled that what she was watching had severely important information for her.

She wanted to say something to the effect of, you know these are purely fictional right? But she couldn't bring herself to do it. She and Minako had already gotten into a heated debate about the subject and Minako made it blatantly clear that she would not let herself be swayed. The only comment Ami had managed to make that actually stuck was that statement that if Minako was to intercept a vicious killer of some sort like in these horrid movies on Halloween, then Ami was confident she'd be able to thwart his evil ways and immobilize him.

Minako truly appreciated that comment.

But other than that single moment, Ami's words had been forgotten. With a delayed sigh, Ami said nothing before leaving for her room and left Minako to her own "research" on the couch.

…

Makoto could not get off the plane fast enough. Though she was normally cordial enough to wait for people to move before trying to pass them, she had ditched all of her manners and shoved her way out of the aircraft in a matter of seconds.

In retrospect, it was quite impressive, especially given that no one was harmed during her escape and that was something to be commended given Makoto was stronger than the average person. It was a wonder why no one had chosen to threaten her with a lawsuit of some sort but when they stepped outside and felt the cool 73 degree breeze with smog-infused breathing air and sighted the vast arrays of people from every culture all in one place, they had forgotten the offense and took to being mesmerized instead.

California was a magical place in deed.

"Are you alright, Mako-chan?" Usagi concernedly asked as she rushed to Makoto who was hovering over a receptacle in the middle of the terminal. The bathroom had been much too far to reach in time.

"I'm fine," Makoto replied as she wiped the corners of her mouth with a napkin.

She took a deep breath before prying herself away from the trash bin.

"I'm so glad to finally be out of that thing," she groaned.

"You do know that we'll have to get back on one of those to get home, right?" Mamoru brought up with a skeptical gaze. "Omff," he soon after grunted when feeling his fiancé's pointy elbow ram into his ribcage.

"What was that for?" He asked.

She ignored him and instead faced Makoto.

"Don't listen to him, Makoto," she said when recognizing that Makoto was starting to turn into a ball of fear again. "Let's just try to enjoy the fact that we made it!"

Makoto nodded as she picked up her carryon off the floor.

Rei had caught up to them after being stuck behind the rest of the passengers that were struggling to unhitch their bags from the overhead compartments. Needless to say, she was very impatient when she reached them and to keep from agitating her further, they all decided it was best to go find their luggage and then their blue-haired friend that was sure to be waiting for them.

To their fortune, they were not among the dozen passengers whose luggage had been misplaced or stolen along the way. As the conveyer belt circulated, they stood by and grabbed at their suitcases and as Rei seemed to be grabbing at every single bag that had passed by, people were starting to stare, her friends included.

"What?" She snapped as she piled her suitcases up, one on top of another until her cart was full and she had to fish for another one.

"Nothing," Makoto replied with a laugh. "I'm just trying to figure out why you brought all of Japan with you for a week-long vacation."

Rei groaned.

"It wasn't by choice," she scowled, suddenly reminded of the night she spent reviewing history with her grandfather.

She would've purposefully forgotten the bags but that was hard to do when he had decided to check in and pay the luggage price for her. Guilt just would not leave her when she considered leaving all these bags at the airport and looking for them in lost and found before heading back home.

"Oh my," she heard a familiar voice say.

The whole group seemed to turn with smiles aglow and as expected, Usagi had tackled their blue-haired friend with a hug.

"Ami-chan!" She squealed. "It feels like it's been forever since we've last seen each other!"

"It has been a while," Ami agreed as she gladly returned the hug.

Once she was free, she returned her attention to the carts of luggage and started thinking.

"This is going to be a tight squeeze," she muttered.

"Well if anyone can figure out the engineering behind this miracle," Makoto stated as she scratched the back of her head in wonderment. "It's you Ames."

Agreement was unanimous. After they had all hugged and reconnected with Ami, they carted through the airport as carefully as they could. With towers of luggage it was difficult to make it to the exit without casualties, especially when Usagi was involved.

"Oops," Usagi had somewhat whined when bags had started to topple over.

Rei, who was ahead of her, paused with a groan and a hand on her hip.

"Great going _genius_."

"Hey," Usagi retorted. "I'm not the one that decided to bring the whole house and then some to America."

"Come on guys," Makoto sounded to the side of Usagi after stopping with her cart of Rei's luggage. "Is this really the best time to get on each other's case?"

Without another word she moved to help pick up the bags that had fallen off and reposition them. Slightly ashamed at acting so childish, Rei and Usagi both doubled back to help but Makoto shook her head.

"You guys can take out the other two carts and I'll handle this one," she said. "Ami says security doesn't tolerate people parking in the loading area for too long so we should try to hurry up and get these packed into the car."

"You sure?" Usagi asked.

"Yeah," Makoto replied with a smile. "I'll probably catch up to you by the time you guys get those two carts loaded."

Both Rei and Usagi nodded.

"We'll see you out there," Rei said as they departed.

Makoto leisurely picked up the backs from the floor and sighed. There was no use rushing, she was pretty sure it would take much more than five minutes to figure out how to squeeze everything into the 6-passenger Mazda Ami had rented for the week.

She was about finished and ready to pick up the last pieces of fallen luggage when someone had done the task for her. She was prepared to thank them, whomever it might be, as she stood up and straightened herself out.

When she turned to see who had been so kind, she was shot into a sudden moment of self-consciousness where she was immediately concerned about her outward appearance. Had she even done her hair? She couldn't remember. The flight had been such a long affair that was so traumatizing that she had forgotten what she did before that. Did she even stop to brush her teeth?

And so it was that she stood panicked and somewhat shocked but miraculously still capable of some words.

"Thank you," she said as she uncomfortably watched him smile back at her.

He was nearly a foot taller than she was with blue-green eyes and wavy milk-chocolate colored hair pulled back in a messy bun. His broad shoulders were declaratively firm as lean muscle was hinted to be hidden beneath the cotton white Nike shirt he had been sporting along with black sweat pants that had white stripes running along the sides until the stopped at the hem that settled crookedly along the tops of his sneakers.

A deep blush crossed her cheeks and all at once she had found herself wondering what it was that she was wearing! That damn plane ride went and made her forget if she was even wearing clothes…or perhaps the sight of him had done that…nevertheless, she was sinking in panic and desperately wishing for a life jacket.

"It is my pleasure," he responded in a thick Italian accent.

At that point realization had struck that he was speaking a language she could hardly understand. Minako had left her a Japanese to English dictionary back home but that book sat collecting dust right next to her overdue English learning books that she had checked out on a whim after purchasing a ticket to California. Oh how she wished she had read them just once then she might've known what this broad-chested man was trying to say.

"Uh," Makoto stumbled, not sure if she should try to speak to him in her native tongue or nod and pretend she had understood. Shamelessly, she chose the latter.

She gulped as he walked closer to securely place the last bag on top of the mountain of luggage in her cart. A musky scent wafted through her senses in a tantalizing fashion and again his melting baritone of a voice sounded in another attack against her weakened knees. Boy she sure did regret reading all those romance novels that littered her humble bookshelf because now she was about ready to faint into his arms and let fate take care of the rest.

"My name is Nikolai," he said and to Makoto's luck it had been the first phrase she had actually understood.

"Kino Makoto," she replied hastily as she stuck out a hand for him to shake.

He happily engaged in this gesture and shook it, his hand lingering in hers much longer than she thought was customary. Truthfully, she really didn't mind that part.

"Are you traveling alone?" He asked curiously as he repositioned the strap of his sports bag over his shoulder.

Makoto nodded in response.

"So am I," he smiled. From up close Makoto could see that one eye was slightly bluer than the other, and she was fascinated to see emerald specks shine in his other, blue-less eye. She had only read about those types of physical anomalies in stories but now she had actually seen one first hand. She could easily get lost in those eyes if given the chance…

"Listen," he had started to say after muttering endless strings of words that she couldn't understand but enjoyed listening to for its melodic tone. "There's a decent sports bar down the street. Maybe we could go there some time, no?"

He paused as if he was waiting for a response and Makoto was starting to feel the pressure of her lies accumulate as she tried to guess what it is he might've asked or said. With a passing glance towards the door she was immediately alert when spotting Rei, Minako and a police officer outside on the sidewalk. Law enforcement and Rei didn't tend to work out well. Without another thought, her hands were pressed against the cart as the small bit of English she had known escaped her lips.

"Sorry," she said before rushing off. "I have to go."

Stunned, Nikolai watched her cart away and sighed in disappointment to himself.

"I'll take that as a no," he muttered.

…

"Thank you so much officer for being so understanding," Minako said with a bright smile.

The blond man nodded.

"Just try not to do it again," he said as he scratched the back of his head and surveyed the condition of his bumper. How the Mazda wasn't damaged was a mystery in and of itself but he digressed.

Upon noticing that he had again been wondering whether or not he should let these girls, and Mamoru, off, Minako nudged Rei roughly in her side to get her to say more. As it turned out, Rei had a bit of magic in the sense that Officer Jared B. Carp was charmed by her voice alone.

Peeved, Rei grit her teeth, but said something nonetheless. Goodness only knew she didn't want Ami to get stuck with raised insurance rates _and _a ticket. She heard traffic tickets in California cost a fortune. And though she knew Ami was financially stable, she would never wish such a burden on her when she could help to prevent it.

"We truly appreciate it," she said through grit teeth.

"Oh, it's no trouble," he conceded as he immediately forgot his task of surveying the car in favor of a glance towards the raven-haired woman. Before he lost his job for flirting he knew he had to get away. "You ladies take care," he said with a wave.

He looked up to spot a fast approaching brunette with another tower of bags and it wasn't hard for him to deduce that she was the woman they had been waiting on.

"Sorry I took so long," Makoto had said to the girls as she watched the blond officer walk away. "There was –uh- traffic."

She didn't dare mention the exotic Nikolai for fear that Minako and Usagi would make her go back in there and talk to him.

"Better late than never, as I always like to say," Minako chimed with a smile. "Now com'on, time's a wasting!"

They all piled into the car and before long they were off.

Mamoru was crammed in the backseat with Usagi, holding a newspaper up as he read the headlines. He frowned when he reached the missing person's section. Pictures of three blue-eyed blondes around their mid-twenties were posted and he couldn't help but peek at each of the girls in the car (particularly Minako and Usagi) and compare them to these missing women.

All those detective shows made him anxious. Clearly there was an M.O. behind these kidnappings. Though the article read that they weren't officially kidnapped, Mamoru had a hankering that their features were a little too similar for it to be coincidence.

"Maybe we shouldn't go trick-or-treating tomorrow night," Mamoru advised as he read the article.

"Why not?" Usagi whined in his ear.

"Maybe because kids go trick-or-treating and we're all adults," Rei grumbled. "By the way, whatever you choose to do, I will not be participating."

"Seriously?" Minako questioned as she poked her head out from the front passenger seat.

Rei simply nodded.

"Well I wasn't planning on participating either," Ami chimed in from the driver's seat. "I'm not really one for playing dress up."

"Gah you two are such kill joys!" Minako griped. Usagi had to nod in agreement about that one. "You're down to dress up, aren't you Mako-chan?" She asked as she looked towards the brunette.

"That is what I came for," Makoto answered. "I didn't ride that plane for nothing."

"Finally, someone else with good sense!" Minako cheered.

"So says the girl that regards horror films as factual documentaries," scoffed Ami.

"You do?" Usagi asked incredulously.

"With good reason!" Minako defended. She didn't actually have time to expound upon that bit as they pulled into Ami's garage and unloaded.

Neither of them wanted to turn this into multiple trips so they each carried as much as they could possibly manage and fumbled their way through the halls to the elevator. Usagi, however, managed to convince Mamoru to take her load and went up empty handed. Rei, didn't take that very well as she threatened to chase down the blonde out of sheer annoyance.

Thankfully, the others were there to persuade Rei not to do anything brash. As they reached the door to Ami's apartment, they parked themselves in the hallway to wait as the young doctor shuffled through her pockets for her keys.

"Hmm," Minako hummed as she spotted a flyer at the bottom of Ami's door.

All eyes were on her as she picked it up and examined it.

"Well, since you don't want us to go trick-or-treating," she said in reference to Mamoru's concerns. "Then how about a haunted house?"

She turned the party flyer for everyone else to see and unanimously they had all started to consider it.

"Definitely not," Rei grumbled before following the pack inside Ami's welcoming abode. A haunted house was just asking for trouble especially after the hours she had spent being lectured by her grandfather about hidden dangers in California. But she could see the idea settling in the minds of her friends, excluding Ami, and those looks had each spoken volumes to the fact that they were already planning on going to that party.

* * *

Thank you for reading. I've been wanting to write a Halloween story for so long and have finally posted the first installment. I plan on it being finished in the next two or three chapters but I don't quite think that will be probable. Nevertheless, thank you for taking time to read this. Hopefully I'll get this out quickly.

4Shame


End file.
